A ternary content-addressable memory (TCAM) is a type of memory that is commonly incorporated in, or packaged with, packet processors used by network devices and systems. The packet processors leverage the TCAMs to perform fast lookups of patterns in sent/received packets and to apply actions to the packets (e.g., drop, forward to address X, etc.) based on the lookups. Some network devices/systems, referred to herein as “homogeneous” devices/systems, make use of packet processors that all have the same type of TCAM. For instance, in a homogeneous device/system, the included TCAMs may all be instances of the same TCAM module designed by the same chip vendor. Other network devices/systems, referred to herein as “heterogeneous” devices/systems, make use of packet processors that have different types of TCAMs. For instance, in a heterogeneous device/system (such as, e.g., a mixed stacking system), the included TCAMs may correspond to different TCAM modules designed by different chip vendors (or different TCAM modules designed by the same chip vendor).
One challenge with managing the different types of TCAMs in a heterogeneous network device/system is that the TCAMs may support different memory sizes and/or different capabilities. For example, consider a stacking system comprising a mixture of high-end stackable switches S1, S2 and low-end stackable switches S3, S4, S5. Each of these switches includes a TCAM T1, T2, T3, T4, and T5 respectively. In this scenario, TCAMs T1 and T2 (which correspond to high-end stackable switches S1 and S2) may be larger in size that TCAMs T3, T4, and T5 (which correspond to low-end stackable switches S3-S5). Alternatively or in addition, the capabilities of each TCAM (e.g., accessibility method, support for hardware priority, etc.) may differ. This makes it difficult for network applications running on the stacking system to manage and interact with the TCAMs in a uniform manner.